Local phone number lookup and cache

ABSTRACT

A system and method for wirelessly connecting a computer device to a server. The system includes a computer device and a phone number look-up device. The computer device generates location data, retrieves a server phone number from memory based on the generated location data, and generates a request that includes the generated location data if no server phone number corresponds to the generated location data. The computer device wirelessly sends the generated request to a default phone number. The phone number look-up device is associated with the default phone number. The phone number look-up device receives the request from the computer device, retrieves a server phone number from a local memory based on the received request, and sends the retrieved server phone number to the computer device. The computer device wirelessly connects to a server based on the sent server phone number.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. Application Ser. No.10/059,893 filed Jan. 29, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,922 which claimspriority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/327,632, filedOct. 5, 2001.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to client-server communication and,more specifically, to mobile client-server communication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicle-based telematics units connect to a telematics server via awireless connection in order to receive information with which tointeract with the vehicle operator. Presently, when a telematics unit isactivated it places a call to a cellular phone number in a cellularnetwork that then makes a connection between the telematics unit and thetelematics server. When the vehicle of the telematics unit is not in itslocal calling area, roaming or long distance fees are incurred for aunit/server session. The telematics unit requires a phone number that islocal relative to the present location of the telematics unit in orderto access the telematics server without incurring increasedcommunication fees. In order for the telematics unit to call a phonenumber that is different than its base or default phone number, the usermust take the time to figure out what phone number is a proper phonenumber given the present vehicle location, and must enter that numberwhile operating the vehicle. This imposes a number of problems, one ofwhich is safety. The whole point of the telematics unit is to providehands-free operation and interaction with the telematics server. Safetyis compromised when the user must manually enter a phone number. Also,the user would have to find the proper phone number, which may be hardto locate under the circumstances or be unavailable to the user.

Therefore, there exists a need to provide easier and more cost effectiveaccess to a telematics server.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a system and method for wirelesslyconnecting a computer device to a server. The system includes a computerdevice and a phone number look-up device. The computer device includes alocation generator, memory, a processor, and a communication device. Thelocation generator generates data related to the location of thecomputer device. The memory stores server phone numbers based onlocation. The processor retrieves a server phone number from the memorybased on the generated location data, and generates a request thatincludes the generated location data if no server phone numbercorresponds to the generated location data. The communication devicewirelessly connects the computer device to a server using the retrievedserver phone number, and wirelessly sends the generated request to adefault phone number. The phone number look-up device associated withthe default phone number includes memory, a communication device, and aprocessor. The memory of the phone number look-up device stores serverphone numbers based on location. The communication device receives therequest from the computer device and sends it to the processor. Theprocessor retrieves a server phone number from the memory based on thereceived request. The communication device sends the retrieved serverphone number to the computer device, and the communication device of thecomputer device wirelessly connects to a server based on the sent serverphone number.

In accordance with further aspects of the invention, the computer deviceis a telematics control unit, a laptop computer, or a personal dataassistant.

In accordance with other aspects of the invention, the locationgenerator is an active speech recognition device that records locationinformation as spoken by a user, and generates location data byperforming active speech recognition of the recorded locationinformation. Location information can also be received from a GPSreceiver.

As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing summary, the inventionprovides a system and method for providing the most economical wirelessconnection between a mobile device and a stationary server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention aredescribed in detail below with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system formed in accordance withthe present invention; and,

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a system and method for automaticallylooking up and storing a telematics server phone number that isproximate to the telematics control unit. As shown in FIG. 1, atelematics control unit (TCU) 20 is shown in wireless communication witha telematics server 32 over a cellular or mobile system 30. TCU 20includes a mobile phone 22, local storage or memory 24, a processor 26,and a global positioning system (GPS) 28. A phone number database 34 iscoupled to telematics server 32.

When TCU 20 is activated or requires connection to telematics server 32,processor 26 retrieves a telematics server phone number from memory 24based on GPS information received from GPS 28. The processor 26retrieves a number that allows TCU 20 to establish a local connection.However, if processor 26 determines that no phone number in memory 24corresponds to the GPS information, the processor places a call overmobile phone 22 to a default server phone number, thereby connecting TCU20 to telematics server 32 via cell system 30. Upon connection withtelematics server 32, processor 26 generates a request that is sent tothe telematics server requesting that the telematics server provide alocal phone number based on GPS information that the processor sendsalong with the request. The telematics server then retrieves a phonenumber from phone number database 34 based on the request and the GPSinformation associated with the request that are sent from TCU 20.Telematics server 32 then transmits the retrieved phone number to TCU20. TCU 20 then cancels the present call that is placed and places asecond call to the phone number that was received from telematics server32. The phone number that is received from telematics server 32 is alsostored in local memory 24 by processor 26.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram performed by the system illustrated inFIG. 1. First, at block 100, processor 26 finds a local phone number intelematics unit memory 24 based on the vehicle's present GPS coordinatesas generated by GPS 28. At decision block 102, the process determines ifprocessor 26 found a phone number that corresponds to the GPScoordinates. If processor 26 found a phone number that corresponds tothe GPS coordinates, TCU 20 places a call using the corresponding number(see block 104), and TCU/server communication begins. If no phone numberwas found in memory 24 that corresponds to the GPS coordinates,processor 26 calls a default number and delivers the vehicle GPScoordinates and a request for a local number to a device associated withthe default number (see block 106). The device associated with thedefault number is most likely a telematics server 32 that is not localto the vehicle. Next, at block 108, device or server 22 associated withthe default number retrieves a phone number associated with a serverthat corresponds to the delivered vehicle GPS coordinates. At block 110,server 32 sends the retrieved phone number to telematics unit 20. Then,at block 112, the telematics unit stores the sent number based on aregion or location. And, finally, processor 26 places a call to thephone number sent from server 32.

In an alternate embodiment, the process described above is used to finda local Internet Service Provider number for a mobile computer orpersonal data assistant. In this embodiment, the server either usescaller-identification information or information entered by the user todetermine the user's location.

In another embodiment, a user calls an Automatic Speech Recognition(ASR) system and speaks their location (city and state or zip code). TheASR system converts the spoken location information into location dataand sends the location data to a telematics server. The telematicsserver retrieves a local phone number based on the location and returnsthe local phone number to the ASR. The ASR converts the local numberinto spoken word that is sent to the user.

In still another embodiment, multiple phone numbers are retrievedsimultaneously from the telematics server 32. The multiple phone numbersmight be those numbers that correspond to a known route that the userfrequently travels, a planned route, or for a given region (i.e.,geographic, area code, or prefix). These factors for retrieving multiplephone numbers are determined by interpreting GPS information orperforming speech recognition processing of recorded speech informationand comparing the determined location to stored information pertainingto the user, such as stored frequent trip information, or stored plannedroute information.

Some or all of the functions performed by server 32 and database 34 canbe distributed across a public or private data network.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, as noted above, many changes can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, while thepreferred embodiment has been described specifically with reference to asystem and method for wirelessly connecting a telematics control unit toa server, the invention contemplates application using any computingdevice, presently known or unknown, including but not limited to mobilecomputers (such as laptop computers or wearable computers), personaldata assistants, and smart telephones. Accordingly, the scope of theinvention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment.

1. A method for wirelessly connecting a computer device to a server, themethod comprising: generating, with the computer device, data related tothe location of the computer device; establishing a first wireless callbetween the computer device and a first telematics server not local tothe computer device and including a phone number look-up device;sending, during the first call, the location data to the phone numberlook-up device; retrieving at least one phone number from memory coupledto the phone number look-up device; wirelessly sending the retrieved atleast one phone number to the computer device; discontinuing the firstcall; and establishing a second wireless call between the computerdevice and a second telematics server local to the computer device usingthe at least one phone number.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecomputer device is a telematics control unit.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the computer device is at least one of a laptop computer orpersonal data assistant.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein generatinglocation data of the computer device comprises: recording locationinformation as spoken by a user; and generating location data byperforming active speech recognition of the recorded locationinformation.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising automaticallystoring in the computer device the at least one phone number.